Chili Recipes: Beef, Chicken or Vegetarian

Chili is so versatile! You can make it with ground beef, steak or chicken – or even with no meat at all. Mix in several different kinds of beans or just use chunks of beef or pork. There are so many possibilities and you can experiment all week long with these recipes. Begin your week with contest-winning vegetarian chili. Go with good basic chili the day after and slow cooker chunky chicken chili for the middle of the week. Get creative on Thursday with pork and green chile stew. Finally, on Friday get fancy with thick and hearty steak chili. What a week!

Start sautéing ground beef. Once the beef is cooked through, stir in the remaining ingredients for this good basic chili recipe from Penzey's. Along with the expected onions and bell peppers, this recipe also calls for ground chipotle pepper and crushed red peppers. Not a spice fan? Nix the crushed red pepper altogether.

Here's a switch – instead of a red chili, go green! Try this pork and green chile stew recipe from the Kitchn. The base of this chili is tomatillos and green chiles. Chunks of pork meld right into the green sauce that's peppered with garlic and cumin.

Friday night, take your time making this thick and hearty steak chili from The Yummy Life. First, sauté onion, jalapeno and garlic until soft. Add in chili powder, cornmeal, cumin, oregano, cayenne and cocoa powder. Next, mix in chicken broth, molasses, beans and canned tomatoes. Brown cubed steak in a separate pan before adding it into the rest of the mixture. Simmer for 90 minutes until the steak is fork tender. The perfect chili to finish off a week of spicy dishes!